Hideaway

I keep watching kids' films.

Some of them are really, really good. There's been a lot of Disney lately (who knew that university would yield such passionate cartoon fans?), which is often very good and only occasionally very bad.

However, the best thing I've seen in a long time is Spike Jonze's new film, 'Where the Wild Things Are'; based upon Maurice Sendak's picture book of the same name, it is a fantastic recreation of a child's imagination, but packs in a whole lot more. The almost allegorical characters, who look like monsters but act like humans, and the captivating performance by the cutest and yet least hammy child actor I've seen in a long time, are the driving forces of this beautiful picture.

Perhaps a third central force is the soundtrack; recorded by Karen O (of Yeah Yeah Yeahs), a few select collaborators and an untrained children's choir, it leaps from acoustic, campfire singalongs, to fast-paced "Rumpus" tunes, and never feels anything but entirely perfect for the film itself.

Director Spike Jonze, known best for his role directing the classic 'Being John Malkovich', has handled this film in an admirably daring way; it is so much more than a fun children's story, and is constantly poignant and thought-provoking. It would have been foolish to expect anything less from him, and I can only hope that these films provide a start to a much lengthier career as a director, continuing his trend in originality and beauty in motion pictures.

Sq.